It's so cute to see Nellie and Ariah together, they are really the best of friends. Ariah's mom, Leah, and I will text each other stories and they are really obsessed with each other! They each talk about the other all of the time and how they are best friends and love to scream and hold hands.
The preschool is using a new app this year, called Bloomz, and they communicate so much with us now and upload so many pictures throughout the day. It's nice to be able to see what they're doing and that they're having so much fun.
Mila is really embracing being 5, and some of the attitude that comes with it. I would say she's acting like a definite teenager over the past couple of weeks; this, along with her very sensitive demeanor, has ensured some challenges! She is trying so many new things, especially things that I am sure she won't want to do, like jumping off a "cliff" into a pool! I love that she's exploring her options, testing her limits and trying new things.
We had our annual women's event for our clients at work and it was a blast. In the past we have done wine tasting and a fashion show but this year we did a wild west themed party in the park that was coupled with a local charity's event to raise money for underprivileged women.
We made a trip to Helendale to see Great Grandma and Pop and the girls had a blast being spoiled and basically doing whatever they wanted! We played at the house, looked at lizards, watched for golfers and went to the local pizza place for lunch.
While I was there I came across this stud muffin and had to snap a shot:
Robert and I had a date night to go see a podcast that I love, My Favorite Murder, live in Anaheim. Robert was a good sport but HATED going with me.
While we were gone Tori took the girls on a "night walk" with flashlights and they thought it was the coolest thing ever.
The end of the month was crazy with halloween parties, birthday parties and getting things together to go to Kansas for a week. The girls decided they would be Batgirl and Shimmer (from Shimmer & Shine) and had so much fun dressing up. We met up with Kira and Siena, two little mermaids, and the girls had a blast trick or treating before it was even Halloween!
We had to leave the halloween event early to head over to Jillian's birthday party. Mila is so social and close friends with everyone in her class but it's also so great that all the kids (and the parents) love Nellie and include her in the parties as well.
This is Charlie, one of Mila's best friends at school. Mila talks about him quite often and Charlie's mom says that Charlie comes home saying how pretty Mila looked at school that day and that he's going to marry her!
Unfortunately we lost a great man, friend and officer in a tragic car accident this month. Robert worked with him at Cypress and he was just an all around great guy. He leaves behind a wife and two kids and to say it was a hard month would be an understatement. I think we are still dealing with the grief and remembering someone who was taken too soon. The department put on a great service and burial, although extremely emotional, as you can imagine. It was amazing to see the department come together, and the community support the family through fundraisers. It doesn't make the situation any easier but it's so wonderful to know that Robert, the girls and I are part of a great support system in Cypress (and the larger law enforcement community, in general).
The girls, of course, are adoring their "Fridays with Tori" and I am adoring all of the beautiful pictures she takes of them, and the fun things they do. We had started out planning on her using Fridays as another day to teach the girls, using workbooks and worksheets at home. After a couple of weeks, however, we decided that she will just take them out in the community, do fun things and teach them how to be good human beings by learning how to interact with others (you should hear the story of them encountering a man with only one leg in the grocery store!), recycling, donating items to a local women's/children's shelter, etc. It really does take a village and we're so lucky to have Tori on our team.
We ended the month with a trip to Kansas, in the fall, my favorite time of the year! The girls and I went on Wednesday, then Robert joined us on Friday (Garret, Whitney, Garret's brother and Whitney's boyfriend all came in town too!).
The girls did pretty good on the plane, much better than when I flew alone with them last year.
Thursday we went to Louisburg Cider Mill to visit their pumpkin patch. I had never been before, but always wanted to go; not only did they have a pumpkin patch but they also had a hayride (the girl's first), a play area, slide, country store (with apple donuts!) and a corn maze.
We had a sleepover at Aunt Sissy and Uncle Bret's house on Thursday night and the girls (me included!) couldn't have been more excited to spend time with William.
on Saturday we left the girls with my parents and headed to Lawrence for the day. We stopped by Allen Fieldhouse and made our way around a couple of bars.
On Sunday we headed to our Airbnb for a couple of days for a quick getaway and were able to catch up with Lori and Nate as well.
Monday night we all headed out to Arrowhead to go to the Chiefs/Broncos game. It was a blast but SO cold; which, I know, Kansas people, is really not THAT cold yet! I was really hoping for fall weather in the 60s and 70s but you get what you get (and don't throw a fit), right?
While we were away for the weekend the girls enjoyed a trunk or treat and the aquarium with Nana and Papa and ice cream, dinner and fun with Aunt Sissy, Uncle Bret and William.
Back to reality on Tuesday (Halloween) when we headed back to California. The girls brought some costumes to wear on the plane...
...and then we went trick or treating in our neighborhood when we go home. The girls had so much fun but we weren't out for that long since they were so exhausted from traveling.
